Perhaps chief among those reasons: Tooth decay is the No. 1
chronic infectious disease among U.S. children, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can lead to myriad long-term
health problems and adversely affect a child's development.

The good news: It's preventable.

We asked Linh Vo-Cheng, a pediatric dentist with Kaiser
Permanente Cascade Park Dental Office in Vancouver, to talk about why
introducing an infant to a dentist is a good idea, what that first visit
typically entails, and to offer some tips on getting children off on the right
foot when it comes to oral health.

Pediatric dentists, she says, get a couple extra years of
training with small-fry patients, and that's important when it comes to setting
them at ease during what can be a scary or painful experience.

"People think that little kids are just people that are
smaller," Vo-Cheng says. "They're not. Their perception of the world is
completely different."

She and others in her specialty have some nifty tricks up
their white-coat sleeves.

Perhaps not surprisingly, first exams with infants are
really more about educating parents, although Vo-Cheng does examine the baby's
mouth.

Mostly, though, she offers parents tips on building good
habits, on brushing a baby's teeth, on how much fluoride their child should get,
on thumb sucking and use of sippy cups and pacifiers. That first visit should
happen, Vo-Cheng says, within six months of the time the first tooth pushes
through the gums, and no later than 1 year old.

Once children are old enough to comprehend what she's
saying, she often employs the tell-show-do technique.

"I tell them what I'm doing," she says, "show them on their
finger or with a puppet, then I do it to them. A lot of kids respond really
well to that, especially kids older than 3."

FINDING DENTAL CARE

Check out this list of resources for free or reduced-cost dental care in the Portland metropolitan area.

Vo-Cheng continues coaching parents as their children grow.
She assures them that if their children cry during tooth brushing sessions at
home, they're not hurting them. She likens cleaning a child's teeth to trimming
their fingernails or bathing them – it's simply something that must be done and
kids get used to it.

Parents, she says, sometimes give in too easily when a child
fusses or cries, which only serves to cement the notion that tooth brushing is
negotiable.

If it seems too much to add tooth brushing to the pre-bed
routine of bathing and reading to a child, keep his or her toothbrush in the
kitchen and brush right after dinner, she suggests.

Key, Vo-Cheng says, is getting babies in to see a dentist in
that first year. "Make sure they have a dental home," She says. "The younger
they start, the more they'll feel comfortable when they come in at 2 or 3. This
is a long-term relationship."